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The World Is Not Enough (film)
The World Is Not Enough is the nineteenth official James Bond film made by EON Productions and the third to star Pierce Brosnan as Ian Fleming's secret agent, James Bond. It was released in 1999, and produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. The film's story and screenplay was written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade who later teamed again for 2002's Die Another Day and 2006's Casino Royale. The title comes from the English translation of the Bond family motto, the Latin Orbis non sufficit, which was established and adopted by James Bond in Fleming's novel, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Plot summary A British oil tycoon, and friend of M, Sir Robert King, is assassinated by an agent of Renard, an anarchist terrorist. M assigns James Bond to protect King's daughter, Elektra King from Renard, who previously had kidnapped her. She assumes control of her father's oil business at a pivotal time, taking over responsibility of an oil pipeline through the Caucasus, from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Prior to the events in the film, M sent 009 to assassinate Renard. 009 failed, only wounding Renard by leaving a bullet lodged in Renard's brain. The bullet is slowly working its way towards the cerebral cortex. As it moves, it eliminates his senses of pain and touch, enabling him to physically drive himself beyond normal human limits. This will in turn allow him to continually gain strength until the bullet inevitably kills him. Renard steals a quantity of weapons-grade plutonium from a former Russian ICBM base in Kazakhstan, there encountering Bond. After Bond escapes from a booby-trapped missile silo with American nuclear physicist Christmas Jones, the two return to the King pipeline, discovering that Renard has set a nuclear bomb in a section of the pipeline in a cleaning rig headed towards the pipeline's control center. They enter the pipeline, catching up with the bomb in a spare cleaning rig, to attempt to defuse the bomb, but find that Renard only used part of the plutonium. Bond allows the bomb to explode; he and Jones jump off the rig inside the pipeline seconds before the explosion and survive. When Bond radios in that he survived (Jones also survived), he discovers that M has been kidnapped. At that point, he grasps that Elektra is operating with Renard. Meantime, Renard hijacks a Russian Victor III class nuclear submarine. Eventually, when Bond confronts Elektra, he finds she had made a professional and romantic alliance with Renard during captivity (see: Stockholm syndrome). Their plan is to introduce the remaining plutonium to the submarine's nuclear reactor, overloading it and causing a nuclear meltdown in the Bosporus at Istanbul which would not only kill countless thousands of people, but also contaminate the Bosporus for decades. The effect would prevent shipment of Caspian Sea petroleum through any existing route, because all Caspian region pipelines terminate at the Black Sea, requiring that tankers go through the Bosporus; the only alternative would be the King pipeline. Renard is made out to be the film's villain until Elektra reveals her true colours as the villainess, making her the first main villainess in the film series; KGB Colonel Rosa Klebb of From Russia with Love works for Ernst Stavro Blofeld, so she is not considered that adventure's main villain. This view is debated by those who feel Elektra is more Renard's brainwashed victim than not (Though the reverse is also strongly suggested in the film); consequently, Bond's killing her is questionable. Cast & characters *James Bond - Pierce Brosnan *Elektra King - Sophie Marceau *Dr. Christmas Jones - Denise Richards *Renard - Robert Carlyle *M - Judi Dench *Valentin Zukovsky - Robbie Coltrane *Miss Moneypenny - Samantha Bond *Q - Desmond Llewelyn *R - John Cleese *Gabor - John Seru *Mr. Bullion - Goldie *Sasha Davidov - Ulrich Thomsen *Bill Tanner - Michael Kitchen *Charles Robinson - Colin Salmon *Cigar Girl (aka Giulietta da Vinci) - Maria Grazia Cucinotta *Dr. Molly Warmflash - Serena Scott Thomas *Sir Robert King - David Calder This was Desmond Llewelyn's last appearance as "Q" before his death in December, 1999. The film also introduced "Q"'s successor, "R", played by John Cleese. The name "R" was a joke made by Bond upon their introduction. In future movies "R" takes over the job of Quartermaster, thus taking on the title "Q". Fans are often disturbed by the death imagery in Llewelyn's final scene, which ends with the actor being lowered into the ground alongside a car; he died in an automobile accident only a few weeks after the film's release. Crew *Directed by: Michael Apted *Produced by: Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli *Written by: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade *Screenplay by: Bruce Feirstein, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade *Cinematography by: Adrian Biddle *Composed by: David Arnold *Production design by: Peter Lamont Soundtrack The theme tune "The World Is Not Enough" was performed by Garbage. This is the second James Bond soundtrack composed by David Arnold. Arnold breaks with tradition by not ending the film with a new song or a reprise of the opening theme. Originally, Arnold was going to use the song "Only Myself to Blame" at the end of the film, however, it was replaced by a techno remix of the James Bond theme. "Only Myself to Blame", sung by Scott Walker, and written by David Arnold & Don Black, does appear on the soundtrack album. This is actually the fifth Bond song Black has contributed to. Other films with songs he's contributed to include Thunderball, Diamonds Are Forever, The Man with the Golden Gun, and Tomorrow Never Dies. Track listing #The World Is Not Enough - Garbage #Show Me The Money #Come In 007, Your Time Is Up #Access Denied #M's Confession #Welcome To Baku #Casino #Ice Bandits #Elektra's Theme #Body Double #Going Down - The Bunker #Pipeline #Remember Pleasure #Caviar Factory #Torture Queen #I Never Miss #Submarine #Christmas In Turkey #Only Myself To Blame - Scott Walker / David Arnold / Don Black Vehicles & gadgets *BMW Z8 - Loaded with serveral Q refinements including ground to air missiles, a key chain that can control the car remotely, and as R proudly points out, cup holders. For films, this is the first car Bond is given by Q-branch where the steering wheel is on the left side. *Q Boat - used in the opening sequence. Was created by Q for his retirement. *Omega Watch - Bond's watch has the ability to shoot a grappling hook that can allow him to climb to new heights. *Protective Jacket - Q gives Bond a jacket, that when deployed encloses Bond and potentially another person inside a ball. This feature appears to be based on the Zorb. Locations Film locations *Bilbao, Spain — Guggenheim Museum *London, UK — MI6 Headquarters and Millennium Dome *Scotland, UK — Eilean Donan castle *Baku, Azerbaijan *Istanbul, Turkey Shooting locations *Pinewood Studios / Albert R. Broccoli's 007 Stage *Bilbao, Spain *Baku, Azerbaijan *London, Wiltshire and Halton House, Buckinghamshire, England *Scotland — Eilean Donan castle *Istanbul, Turkey *France *The Bahamas Trivia * While the film was in production, several noted gossip columnists reported that the producers planned to include cameos by virtually every surviving former Bond girl from Ursula Andress to Michelle Yeoh. Although this rumor turned out to be false, a young woman in the casino scene was played by the daughter of Eunice Gayson who had played the very first Bond girl, Sylvia Trench, in Dr. No. * During filming of the opening boat chase, web cams were set up overlooking the Thames River and Internet users could watch the filming from around the world. * This was the first official James Bond film not to be released by United Artists. Its parent company, MGM had since Tomorrow Never Dies assumed co-production and distribution of the Bond films. * This film is notable as being one of the few Bond movies in which James himself kills a leading female character. In the scene, Bond points a gun at her and threatens to shoot her if she contacts the enemy on her two-way radio. She replies that he can't kill her, because "You would miss me," possibly referring to their romantic involvement. He says nothing, and in the crucial moment, she defies him, alerting the enemy, and he promptly shoots her. Standing over her body, he says, tersely: "I never miss." An early version of the script has Bond shoot her in cold blood before she actually attempts to contact Renard. A longstanding stereotype regarding James Bond is that 007 routinely kills women he beds; in truth, the death of Elektra is the only occasion in the Bond film series in which this undeniably occurs. (It is debatable whether Bond actually kills Fiona in Thunderball or if she is a victim of her men's poor shooting skills.) * Although the producers have not acknowledged it, M's kidnapping is perhaps borrowed from the Kingsley Amis James Bond novel, Colonel Sun. One of the film's settings, Baku, Azerbaijan, is also one of the settings of the 1991 John Gardner Bond novel, The Man from Barbarossa. *The fictional news report which Bond views from the MI6 Archive was provided by BBC News. This was out of date by the time the film was released (November 1999) as the BBC relaunched their news output in May and Martyn Lewis (the newsreader) left the corporation at the same time. *The pipeline featured in the film is a thinly disguised fictional version of the real Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which runs from the Caspian to the Mediterranean via the Caucasus. Unlike the film's "King pipeline", however, the BTC pipeline is almost entirely underground. As in the film, it is the only land route by which oil can be transported from the Caucasus to the Mediterranean. *Elektra's father is named Robert King. This is also the name of the co-writer of Your Deal, Mr. Bond, a collection of bridge-related short stories that included an unauthorized James Bond story. Novelisation The World is Not Enough was adapted by then-current Bond novelist Raymond Benson from the screenplay by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Bruce Feirstein. It was Benson's fourth James Bond novel and followed the story pretty closely, except in some details. For example, Elektra does not die immediately after Bond shoots her ... she begins quietly singing. External links * * [http://www.mgm.com/title_title.do?title_star=BOND19 MGM's official The World is Not Enough website] * "MI6" fan site with many film details * The Digital Bits DVD review * Movie Tour Guide.com - Maps and directions to The World is Not Enough Filming Locations World Is Not Enough, The (novelization) World Is Not Enough, The